Tired of shelling out $6-15 a month for chemical laden Liquid Dishwashing detergent? I was too, so I created Mom's Super Dishwasher Sauce, a super concentrated Dishwasher safe* dishwasher liquid that actually works and it handles 64 loads of dishes for less than .02¢ per Load, and does NOT leave a film on your dishes, maybe I should seriously call it Awesomesauce!

While several of our other dish washing soap recipes call for Borax, You'll notice that this recipe doesn't. Many of our website guests and members were leery about using Borax on their dishes, for fear that it wouldn't wash away completely or that it was leaving frosty/cloudy dishes in the their dishwasher. If you prefer a dry detergent, there are links to those dishwasher recipes at the bottom of this page.

While this recipe is pretty simple and doesn't require cooking of any kind, it does require that you follow the directions completely, or it won't come out properly. (Trust me, I made 13 batches of homemade dishwashing soaps before I finally perfected this one. So, take advantage of my willingness to trash my own kitchen in the name of DIY & MYO!)

Add the water to the mason jar, just regular water from the tap is fine. Add the Bronners Castile Soap.

Add the (completely powdered, LUMP FREE) arm & hammer washing soda, a little at a time, giving it a chance to dissolve, or it will overflow causing a Mess. Do not use baking soda, it will NOT work. Put the lid on the jar, make sure that it is seated properly so it won't leak and screw the band on tightly. Shake vigorously to blend all of the ingredients well.

INVERT THE JAR. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP or you will have a solid block at the bottom of your jar that you CANNOT get out and be sure to Follow the directions COMPLETELY. DO NOT LEAVE THIS OVERNIGHT, it must be whipped during the time frame stated or it will turn into a solid chunk which WILL Break your Jar.

Leave it alone for at least an hour, then shake vigorously again. Put it back & make sure it is still INVERTED. You DO NOT want the contents to settle on the bottom of the glass jar.

After a couple hours or so, open the jar and it should be gelled, like so:

For those with Normal Water: Use 1 Tablespoon per Load of Dishes. This is a very low sudsing homemade Dishwasher Detergent. Here you can see we wanted to test the efficiency of the soap, so we smeared raw egg yolks all over the plate and let it dry a little while before adding it to the machine.

You can try a hand mixer or an immersion stick blender. We haven't tried these and don't know if they'll work well. Alternatively you can get a very cheap Oster blender on Amazon for making your own detergents, creams, lotions, etc. We use ours daily for these kinds of things.

If you transfer the ingredients to a blender, only whip it until you have reached the 4 cup mark on your blender or it will be a weaker concentration.

2. Can I use Regular Liquid Dishsoap like dawn, joy, etc

No. Those are not Low-Sudsing soaps and are not meant for the dishwasher. We use Dr Bronners because it is pure, made with organic oils, biodegradable, safe for use around food and works like a dream.

3. Is this safe for the Septic/dishwasher/etc?

We could find no indication on the ingredients anywhere that they were not safe for septic systems or dishwashers.

4. Where can I get the Ingredients Listed.

You can get the water from your faucet. You can get Arm & Hammer Washing Soda from the Laundry aisle of your local grocery store or here on Amazon. You can buy the Dr. Bronners Liquid Castile soap from the cleaning aisle of your local grocery store, at almost any natural foods/health store or from Here on Amazon.

5. Do you use Vinegar in the Rinse Cycle?

No, You MUST Use a DECENT Commercial rinse aid, or you will notice a cloudy effect on your dishes after several loads.

However, we sometimes dissolve 1/4 c. citric acid per 2 c. water over medium heat until dissolved and add that to the rinse dispenser instead. It's all a matter of preference and availability of ingredients. I prefer the rinse aid because it doesn't oxidize my kitchenaid mixer utensils like citric acid does.

6. I found another brand of Castile soap that's cheaper, can I use that instead?

We tested 3 different Castile Soaps Dr.Bronners, Kirks, Dr. Woods. We experienced the BEST results using Dr.Bronners Liquid Peppermint Castile Soap. The Kirks castile soap left a haze/film on the dishes, the Dr Woods works okay but doesn't seem to have the same cleaning power/results. If you were going to substitute, which we do NOT recommend, your 2nd best choice would be Dr. Woods Castile soaps.

7. Does this work with High mineral count/ hard water?

We have been noticing that those who already have hard water are using their hard water as an ingredient in their dishwashing detergent. If you have Hard water issues or use a Water Softener, you must use BOTTLED water in the recipe instead. Also, For Hard Water/High Mineral Content you will need to reduce the washing soda by 1/4 cup and increase the Bronners by 2 Tablespoons.

8. Can I use a Larger Jar?

You could, but then it wouldn't have the same concentration and would not work as directed.

9. I'm wanting to make this but my blender parts don't fit on a mason jar. I don't understand how it changes the concentration of the mix by using a larger jar.

This recipe makes 4 cups of Concentrated Whipped Soap. If you choose to use a blender, hand mixer, or immersion blender, be sure that you have 4 cups of whipped soap at the end. Often members use a blender or hand mixer and report back that they ended up with 6 or 8 cups of soap. It's no longer as concentrated at that level and you would need nearly twice as much for the same cleaning power as what the original recipe called for.

We'd love for you to Share our original recipe, but please don't copy and paste it to other sites. Instead, please consider linking back to our recipe here! Oh, and if you try it and want to share your results on your own site, please feel free to share the link to your page where you posted about it! Thank you so much!

*Disclaimer*- as with any and all recipes, we are not chemists, this is just what works for our family and is our humble opinion, nothing more, nothing less.

We love to see when you like and share our hard work, but ask that you please follow just a few guidelines.. Use one photo of the finished product on your site and provide a link back to my original post. If you feature a photo from my post, it may not be accompanied by the project/recipe tutorial, whether in my own words as it originally appeared or paraphrased. Always feel free to share photos and links on Pinterest, as it will route back to the original post. Budget101.com is protected under copyright laws. If you any questions or would like to notify me that you’re sharing a post, please email me at liss @ budget101.com

I can't wait to try this. I've been severely disappointed in the other dishwasher recipes I've tried. They all leave my glasses cloudy & I have to nearly wash the dishes before placing them in the dishwasher. I'm thinking positive with this one

I can't wait to try this. I've been severely disappointed in the other dishwasher recipes I've tried. They all leave my glasses cloudy & I have to nearly wash the dishes before placing them in the dishwasher. I'm thinking positive with this one

We definitely Didn't wash anything before putting the dishes in the dishwasher. As a matter of fact I literally smeared egg yolk all over a couple plates and let it partially dry, just to test it, LOL. Instead of taking pictures of the dishes, I should have been taking pictures of the looks on my kids faces.

Cloudiness can come from mineral deposits, (usually if you have a recipe with borax or salt in it). It can also come from the dishes getting etched by too many abrasives in the detergent.

At our house, so far so good. But I haven't tried the vinegar yet- that's coming soon.

Cool Beans! Thanks for sharing this, I've been trying for Years to find a recipe that won't etch my glasses or leave a nasty film all over everything. This site is amazing. Love the name AwesomeSauce, that's funny!

I saw this posted on Budget101's facebook but at first I didn't believe it. LOL, you seriously intentionally dried Egg yolk on your dishes to test this recipe? My regular dishwasher detergent wont remove egg yolk! I'm curious as to what you would have done if it DIDN'T come off, lol.

I have all the ingredients for this on hand so we're trying this one today to see how well it works for us. I noticed that your castile soap expense was alot more than mine. I can find the little bottles for about $2.

Can I store this in something else? At the moment I only have two mason jars and I'm not ready to commit to buying a whole case of jars yet. I got them from a friend so that I could make the Laundry Sauce. Once I make that, I thought I would just transfer it into another container and use the jars again for this recipe. Please let me know if I can do that. I would hate to ruin it, because this stuff sounds amazing! My daughter is an actual chemist so I know how much trial and error must go into all these recipes. Thanks for all you hard work.

I'll have to give this a shot...I've been using the recipe for the tablets on Budget101, (dry, not in tablet form) and adding lemon juice or vinegar to the dishwasher. I have been noticing a pretty heavy film on everything.

It Works! It Really Works!! OMG Liss You are an AMAZING WOMAN!! Thank you! I was skeptical when I read it but I could NOT believe my eyes when I opened my dishwasher this morning and not only were my dishes clean, they were completely Spotless! Beautiful CLEAR glasses! and it's lets than .02 per load for me because I bought my castile soap for about half of the price you paid. Wicked Awesome!

Ok being a newbie and a nurse, I am in the process of making the Super Laundry Soap. I am anxious to use it as I am a terrible tightwad and am always looking for better sources and good recipes. I made the Dishwasher sauce and figured out a way to convert from liquid to grated Castille soap. And it turned out fabulous! However, be careful because when you liquefy the bar down it makes a bunch. but on the bright side it does allow to make several jars.... You are an amazing woman!!!!!!!! Love your recipes for household items.

I just bout the ingredients for the laundry sauce last night, and they are waiting for me on my kitchen table, even as I write this. I can't wait to make it and see what it will do. It is my first time making my own ANYTHING that I usually buy ready made from the store. (Like soaps and such) and as soon as I can, I want to give this recipe a try too! Thank you for your amazing money-saving recipes!

I am just making this recipe! I can;t wait to try it out! I don't know if you have ever tried this before but did you know you can make your own liquid castile soap with just 1 bar of kirks castile soap(1.13) and water. Making it with homemade liquid castile soap bring the cost WAYYYY down to .009 cents a load which is even more of a deal! Hope it works great! Here is a link to the instructions on how to make your own liquid castile soap! you can make half a gallon for $1.13!!!!

I am just making this recipe! I can;t wait to try it out! I don't know if you have ever tried this before but did you know you can make your own liquid castile soap with just 1 bar of kirks castile soap(1.13) and water. Making it with homemade liquid castile soap bring the cost WAYYYY down to .009 cents a load which is even more of a deal! Hope it works great! Here is a link to the instructions on how to make your own liquid castile soap! you can make half a gallon for $1.13!!!!

We actually tried Kirks while we were testing recipes. When we used kirks in place on Bronners, we noticed a Film on the dishes. It doesn't have the same composition & Ingredients and doesn't work as well in the dishwasher.

Ok, I made two batches one with dr. bonners castile soap and one with my homemade liquid castile soap. neither of them have gelled the whole way through and I let them sit over night. they are partly gelled. I followed the directions to the T. The only other thing I can think of is maybe it's my homemade washing soda??? Any suggestions??? I can't wait to try it!

The only other thing I can think of is maybe it's my homemade washing soda??? Any suggestions??? I can't wait to try it!

Unfortunately, that is Exactly the issue. Homemade "Washing Soda" is made by baking "Baking soda"; While this is a widespread rumor on the internet that it's the Same thing and will yield the Same results, this is false. The amount of time you would have to bake this to get it to "convert" to Washing soda, is far from cost effective.

Stick with the $3 box of washing soda and save your electricity/ or gas. Unfortunately, I don't think the batch of dishwasher detergent can be salvaged as adding washing soda to it will simply make it more

OK I have done two loads of dishes with this great stuff and I love it. I did use a rinse agent that was already in my dishwasher .
What a thrill to be able to save money and have results this great. I also made a batch of fabric softener ,shampoo and conditioner and I have been making and using the detergent for a year.
I am sure water is different in many areas of this country but we have hard water with a water softener and all of these work great for my family.

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